Bottling!

So your wort is ready and you're wondering how you get it from that jug into a bottle. Here's what you'll need:

Equipment

• Bottling bucket with a spigot
• Priming sugar
  
• Bottle capper
• 48 12 oz. bottles (Buy 2 cases of beer that comes in pry-off bottles and drink 'em)
  
• 48 botttle caps
  
• 10 ft. of 3/8" vinyl siphoning hose cut into 3 and 6 foot lengths (give or take)
  
• Racking cane
• Bottle filler 
• Bleach
• Bottle drier / rack (optional)
  
• Cookie tray (optional)

Preparation

Sanitation is key, remember? So here's the easiest way to go about it. Rinse the bucket real quick, make sure you get all the funky stuff out. Then add about a 1/4 cup of bleach to the bucket. Throw the caps, long section of tubing, and racking cane in there and fill it with 5 gallons of water. Once everything's in, you're ready to start doing the heavy work.

Priming, Racking & Bottling

1. Hook up your bottle filler to the short end of the tubing and attach the other to the spigot. Line up your bottles and begin filling each one with the bleach solution. 
2. Once all are filled, give them about 15 to 30 minutes before you begin to rinse.
3. Rinse your bottles thoroughly and let dry (A bottle drier helps. You can create one by drilling 48 holes 1 3/4" in diameter into a piece of plywood and resting it on saw horses, tables, etc.) Detach and rinse the filling line, remaining contents of your bottling bucket, and the bucket itself.
4. Bring a pint of water to boil on the stove. After it reaches a boil, remove from heat and stir in your priming sugar. Then pour the sugar solution into the bucket making sure the spigot is in the off position.
   
5. Attach the long section of hose to the angled end of the racking cane. Detach the airlock and place the cane inside your fermenting jug. With the bottling bucket on a lower level (floor works best), siphon the wort into the bucket being mindful not to siphon the yeast at the bottom.
6. When finished, reposition the bottling bucket to where the fermentation jug is, and get ready to bottle. Place a cookie tray if you have one or some way to keep spills from making a huge sticky mess.
   
7. Fill the bottles with the primed wort the same way you filled them with the bleach solution. As the fluid level approaches the top of the bottle, remove the filling line and the remaining gap should be the right amount of air to prevent too much pressure from building up.
8. Once a bottle is full, place a cap inside the bottle capper and secure to the top of the bottle. Push down on the handles with the same amount of pressure as you would a wine key and the cap should be firmly affixed to the bottle.
9. Keep these bottles in the same place as you kept your wort for ten days before refrigerating. It's best to pour the contents of the bottle into a mug or pint glass leaving the sediment at the bottom undisturbed for a crisper, cleaner beer. Enjoy!

The best way to clean the equipment when done is to make another bleach bath and place all components inside. Rinse well after 15-20 minutes and store in a dry place.

The First Brew

If you want to get started in home brewing, We recommend copying this procedure step-by-step. Before you know it, you'll have two cases worth of your very own beer without much hassle. This is a great first step.

We'll start off with the basics. First, make sure you have all the equipment and ingredients:

Equipment

• 3 gallon pot
• Large funnel
  
• Air Lock
• 1 1/2" Rubber Quik-Cap
• 5 gallon Water fountain jug
• Drill with 5/16" bit
• Ice
• American Style Beer Ingredient Kit
• 4 pounds of light liquid malt extract
• 1 pound of corn sugar
• 1 pound of rice syrup solids
• 12 ounces of specialty grains
• 1 ounces of hop pellets
• Yeast
• Shot or two of vodka
• Beers to drink while brewing

You can get the funnel from any automotive store / section. The five gallon water jug is just like the ones you'll find at the office water cooler. The only other piece to find is the Quik-Cap, but we nabbed ours right in the local home depot plumbing section near the PVC fittings. Order the capper online when you buy your ingredient kit, and be sure to drink 2 cases in anticipation to get your bottles.

Your ingredient kit will come with multiple packs of sugars, malt extract, grains, and hops, along with 50 bottle caps.

Steeping & Boil

This is the step in which you extract all the awesomeness out of the grain and malt, and it's real easy.

1. Place the grains in one of the cheese cloths and tie it off, place in the pot with 2 1/2 gallons of water from the jug and crank up the heat. Put the original cap back on the jug and place in the refrigerator.
   
2. It should come to boil within a half hour, at that point remove the grains and turn off the heat.
3. Place your malt extract and sugars (except the priming sugar) into the pot while gently stirring.
4. Crank up the heat again and bring the solution back to a boil.
5. Add the hops to another cheese cloth, tie off, and add it to the pot.
6. While boiling, drill a 5/16" hole into the center of the rubber Quik-Cap.
7. Place the air lock, cap, and funnel into a solution of 1 Tbsp. bleach to 1 gallon of water in a bowl somewhere. This will sterilize the components. Note: sterilization is key, you don't want anything funky coming in contact with the cooled wort.
8. After the hops has been in there for 1 hour, place the pot in an ice-water bath in your kitchen sink and gently stir for 20 minutes, replacing the bath as the ice melts with more ice-water.
9. Rinse both the airlock and cap and insert the airlock into the hole you made.
10. Remove the jug from the fridge and pour the cooled wort into it using the funnel.
11. Pour the yeast in the jug and place the rubber cap onto the jug.
12. Swish the jug around gently to dissolve the yeast for 5 minutes.
13. Fill airlock halfway with vodka and cap it.
    
14. Place the jug in your basement for 10 days.

Once you have this completed, you've successfully started your fermentation. Give this sucker 10 days to fully ferment and check out our next section "Bottling!", you'll use the rest of the equipment then.